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Dojo Warm-Ups & Workouts

From Plank Road Publishing

by John Riggio and Paul Jennings

This collection of short, interesting warm-ups and technique builders will make the journey through the notes and other musical challenges found in most methods an enjoyable one. This unique set of 14 progressive warm-ups and workouts is designed to help you warm up for tunes in Recorder Karate and tunes from many other methods. Many work on the concepts each tune presents, while some exercises also work on basic problems of technique and musicianship your class will encounter as you move through the year. Each selection is fairly short, and comes with an exciting, contemporary recorded accompaniment that will make your students want to play them over and over.

Replace or augment songs in your method! As a matter of fact, these tunes are short and progressively presented in the book, which makes them good candidates for replacement songs or songs to use for supplemental belts in Recorder Karate or other methods.

Each warm-up and workout comes with a reproducible part for your students and with special teaching notes on the concepts involved. Here's what you will find:

Señor Bob's B & B - Get them started with this peppy Latin-infused tune that gives your students lots of practice playing B.

Agent Mole - This cool rock fusion tune is probably the easiest of our BAG workouts, and is great for practicing the clean jump from B to G.

Snappy Snail - Set in a minor rock groove, this is a great warm-up/reinforcement when your students are learning "Hot Cross Buns." We include two tempos of it so that as the students improve, they can try it faster.

Hop, Skip, Jump - John's catchy BAG tune provides a nice way to practice legato versus staccato, and we give you two tempos.

A Day At The Beach - John knows how to write a happy tune, and this little BAG tune is just that. It mixes up jumps and step-wise movement, and is a fun way to start any day with your beginners.

Orbital Sunrise - For those of you who like to start your recorder students on C and A, this is a perfect tune, and if you are a BAG starter, this will be ideal for that move to C and A when you get to that point of their progress.

O Say Can You C - Paul's bluesy workout is a good way to work with C, A, and G, and as you are learning C, you can actually play every note as a C. Using the tracks, it's also a great way to begin simple improvisation.

Slow And Steady Wins The Race - Your kids will love this foot stompin' rock tune that works with A, G, and low E, and they'll want to play it even after they've learned "It's Raining," which is what this workout prepares them for.

Mac And Cheese, Please - This easy-going rock tune will probably be even more fun for your students than the tune it is helping them warm up for, "Old MacDonald Had A Farm."

Alligator Gumbo - Set in the same New Orleans style as "When The Saints Go Marching In," this easy tune is a good workout for the technical demands of the song. We give it to you at two tempos.

Twinkle Crinkle Rip Van Winkle - This laid-back, big band groove is a really interesting way to work out around the demands of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Rip Van Crinkle Rides Again - This workout is also great for working on "Twinkle..." problems, but it has an interesting twist. Each time the short tune repeats, the tempo is a bit faster.

Swans In The Mist - Gentle and flowing, this lovely song warms up your students for "Amazing Grace," and it's also solid programming.

Step It Up! - This tune is a fine step-wise workout, and we've worked in some rhythmic interest to make it a good way to prepare for and reinforce the black belt song, "Ode To Joy."